Expert

What the Expert Says:

lollee,

I am glad to see you are taking up such an important issue for your persuasive essay. There are multiple reasons why children should not bully. Children who are involved in bullying (as a bully, victim, bully-victim, or bystander) are more likely to have negative consequences compared to their peers who are uninvolved in bullying. These consequences include being more at-risk for depression, anxiety, poor academic performance, and loneliness for victims which can continue to be a problem throughout their entire life. Those students who engage in bullying behaviors are more at-risk for alcohol and drug use, dropping out of school, and committing a crime. Bystanders often have feelings of helplessness when they witness bullying. These feelings can lead to anxiety and depression depending on how strong these feelings are for the bystander. There are many helpful resources here on Education.com for more information.

Kids bully for many reasons. Some bully because they feel insecure. Picking on someone who seems emotionally or physically weaker provides a feeling of being more important, popular, or in control. In other cases, kids bully because they simply don't know that it's unacceptable to pick on kids who are different because of size, looks, race, or religion.

The problem with preventing bullying completely is that it would violate the 1st amendment. Even if you somehow monitor everything the kids say to each other in school and prevent kids from making negative comments about each other on the internet with the cooperation of Facebook you cannot stop what is said in public. Stopping cyber bullying would be a step in the right direction but very difficult if not impossible. Kids will just find new ways of doing it.